to protect their interests . in june , the british government sought permission from the australian colonies to dispatch ships from the australian squadron to china . the colonies also offered to assist further , but as most of their troops were still engaged in south africa , they had to rely on naval forces for manpower . the force dispatched was a modest one , with britain accepting 200 men from victoria , 260 from new south wales and the south australian ship hm ##cs protector , under the command of captain william cr ##es ##well . most of these forces were made up of naval brigade res ##er ##vis ##ts , who had been trained in both ship handling and soldier ##ing to fu ##lf ##il
to protect their interests. in june, the british government sought permission from the australian colonies to dispatch ships from the australian squadron to china. the colonies also offered to assist further, but as most of their troops were still engaged in south africa, they had to rely on naval forces for manpower. the force dispatched was a modest one, with britain accepting 200 men from victoria, 260 from new south wales and the south australian ship hmcs protector, under the command of captain william creswell. most of these forces were made up of naval brigade reservists, who had been trained in both ship handling and soldiering to fulfil